An Ultimate Family Trip to Rajasthan by Road!

From quite some time I have been travelling a lot with my wife and sometimes with friends. Like I went to for a quick Road Trip to Rajasthan from Delhi with my friend in 2015 and to many other trips in 2016 to places like Dalhousie, Khajjiar, Goa etc. However, I have hardly been for a family trip in the recent past. So, I decided for a trip to Rajasthanin January end 2017. My main purpose was to show the heritage, culture and beauty of Rajasthan to my family. Before I begin telling you about this trip to Rajasthan by Road, I would like to tell you that it was a 1600 kms trip to and fro from Agra, Uttar Pradesh.

Itinerary for our Road trip to Rajasthan

According to me December & January is the best time to visit Rajasthan as it gets really hot after that. So, we decided to visit the places which we have not visited ever in Rajasthan and our Itinerary was as follows :

DAY 1 : [28/01/2017]

Agra to Chand Baori – 163 km ( FYI : Chand Baori is the Deepest, Largest and one of the Oldest and most Beautiful Stepwell in India)

Chand Baori to Sariska National Park – 60 km [Night Stay at a resort in Alwar].

DAY 2 : [29/01/2017]

Alwar to Udaipur – 540 km [2 Nights Stay at a Home Stay in Udaipur]

DAY 3 : [30/01/2017]

Udaipur City Tour

DAY 4 : [31/01/2017]

Udaipur to Kumbhalgarh Fort – 86 km

Kumbhalgarh Fort to Ajmer – 215 km [1 Night Hault at a Guest House in Ajmer, No City Tour at Ajmer]

DAY 5 : [01/02/2017]

Ajmer to Jaipur – 135 km [1 Night Stay at a Home Stay in Jaipur]

DAY 6 : [01/02/2017]

Jaipur to Agra – 240 km

If you add up the distance it comes out to be 1439 km. The rest 161 km was covered while visiting inside Sariska National Park and the tourist attractions in Udaipur and Jaipur.

Why did I plan for a 1600 km long Road Trip to Rajasthan ?

Although, Udaipur was the place I wanted to visit the most but I thought even if we booked a flight and landed up directly in Udaipur, we would be have visited only Udaipur City and may be Kumbhalgarh fort and that too by a cab. I thought if we go by road we could cover many other beautiful destinations which we have not seen till date, which otherwise we would have missed.

So, I had a look at the Google Maps and checked out for some destinations on the way from Agra to Udaipur which were not covered by us till now and this is how we planned the itinerary.

Day 1 (Agra – Chand Baori – Sariska National Park)

On 28/01/2017, we began from Agra at about 7 am and it till 10 am we were at Chand Baori. The road route was good. Chand Baori lies in the Abhaneri Village of Dausa District of Rajasthan. If you are coming from Agra you need to make 2 right turns from Agra-Jaipur Highway to reach Abhaneri.

You will be able to see a lot of Indian as well as Foreign tourists as you reach near Chand Baori. For those who don’t know about this Step Well can Read our Article on Chand Baori.

Chand Baori Parking Area

There is a beautiful hanuman temple towards the right of Chand Baori which we visited first. This is how it looks like.

After praying for a while at the Hanuman Temple, we moved towards Chand Baori.

Chand Baori Entrance

As we entered the premises of Chand Baori, we found some solid pillars inside the building.

And finally we reached the Step Well – Chand Baori. I cant express how beautiful it looks. Although, I was not aware of the fact that now we are not allowed to go down in the step well due to some accidents which had taken place in the past.

We hired a guide who told us many facts about this step well including the fact that in old times all the people of Abhaneri Village used to come to Chand Baori for filling up water. Isn’t that amazing ? These step wells are built with such intelligence and with great architecture.

We clicked a few pictures at this beautiful step well of Rajasthan and my parents were really enjoying this place.

Me(Left), My Mother(Center) & My Wife(Right)

Finally after spending about 2 hours at Chand Baori, at about 12 pm we planned to move towards our next destination which was Sariska National Park.

Chand Baori to Sariska National Park Road Route

This is how the back gate of Sariska National Park looks like. The front gate looks a quite lively though but it was quite far away from where we were.

Sariska National Park Gate No.2

Here, we bought a ticket for the entry of our Carwhich was Rs.250 and we moved inside the National Park.

If you are going by a car at Sariska, please try and take a SUV as you will find many broken and muddy roads inside the park. At some places you will also find bogs(दलदल). So visiting Sariska National Park by a low power car can be risky.

We wanted to see at least a tiger in the Sariska National Park, but you have to be lucky enough for that. We could only see some animals which we can see anywhere else and here are some of the pictures.

We found a few Deer in the Jungle.

And we saw some peacocks.

And a lot of monkeys and langoors 🙂

And finally we reached the Exit Gate.

For those who are visiting Sariska for the first time by your own car or a cab, you must remember the following points :

You are not allowed to stop anywehere inside the park.

You are not allowed to blow your horn inside the park.

You must not throw litter inside the park.

We did not find many animals as we expected but the journey was quite an adventure. Watch out this Video of Driving inside Sariska National Park.

Soon after we finished with Sariska National Park, we moved to the Resort where we booked our stay. Fateh Garh Farms & Resort was located in Alwar District and was at a quite a nice silent location.

We booked 2 cottages and they looked quite beautiful. Service of the resort was not that good though, but it was fine for a one night hault.

Later in the evening, we got to know that there is a beautiful lake named Siliserh Lake near the resort. We then moved towards the lake and it was really worth watching.

Siliserh Lake, Alwar

You can also try boating in this lake. Watch this Video of Speed Boating in Siliserh Lake.

After spending some time at the lovely Siliserh Lake of Alwar, we moved back to the resort.

Day 2 (Alwar -Udaipur)

After staying overnight at the resort, the next morning i.e., on 29/01/2017 we started our journey towards Udaipur. It was long and tiring day as I had to drive 540 km all the way from Alwar to Udaipur. We started at about 9:00 AM from Alwar and reached Udaipur at about 9:00 PM. And we took half an hour to reach the Home Stay we booked.

Day 3 (Udaipur City Tour)

We had booked our stay at a Home Stay named Raga Home Stay booked through Airbnb. This was undoubtedly one of the best Home Stays I have ever booked. The rooms, the bedsheets and the washrooms were very neat and clean. We got the entire ground floor for 2 nights at a very affordable price of Rs.7500.

Raaga Home Stay, Udaipur

Raaga Home Stay at Udaipur had 3 rooms all with attached bathrooms and AC, a drawing room and a kitchen with tea preparation material. Also, Our breakfast was included with the stay. The breakfast was very tasty indeed.

We started at 11 am and reached Gulab Bagh & Zoo of Udaipur or the Sajjan Niwas at about 11:30 am. Spread over an area of 100 acres (40 ha) of land, Gulab Bagh has a wide variety of of roses.

We also had ride of a Toy Train inside Gulab Bagh which goes around the garden and the zoo for just Rs.20/per person and here’s the Video.

After spending about 2 hours at Gulab Bagh, we moved towards Lake Pichola whichis undoubtedly the most beautiful and happening lake of Udaipur. We straightaway moved for boating where we had 2 options to choose from i.e., Normal Ferry in which about 30 people travel at a time (Charges-Rs.150/per person) and the Luxury Boat in which only 8 passengers travel at a time and the seating is very comfortable as well(Charges-Rs.250/per person).

We opted for the Luxury Boat as it was the first time we had been to Udaipur and we wanted to see this lake with full comfort :). Here’s the video of the Boat Ride at Lake Pichola of Udaipur.

You will also get many photographers asking to click your pictures near the lake. I would like to tell you that they would not give you the soft copies of the pictures unless you take the prints from them. 🙂

Near Lake Pichola, we also saw a Rajasthani Musician playing very melodious songs from Classic Bollywood Movies. Watch out the Video.

After spending some quality time at Lake Pichola, we moved towards Fatehsagar Lake of Udaipur which is another beautiful lake of Udaipur and this is how it looks like.

We did not actually go towards the lake this time as we already had spent a lot of time at Lake Pichola. After having our lunch we then moved towards our last spot for the day i.e., Shilpgram, Udaipur.

Shilpgram, Udaipur Entrance

Shilpgram, Udaipur is a rural arts and crafts complex which is spread over an area of about 70 acres of land, surrounded by the Aravali mountains.

We found a lot a lot of shops and stalls here which mainly promote and sell handicrafts and other local rajasthani art. One such artist made a nail art of an elephant on my wife’s nail.

Here’s the picture of the nail art. Isn’t it beautiful ?

After visiting some of the stalls and shops, we moved towards the place where traditional rajasthani cultural programs are arranged every evening. Here’s is one of the videos from the cultural programme at Shilpgram, Udaipur.

So, this was the last place we visited in Udaipur. Finally we moved towards our home stay.

DAY 4 (Udaipur – Kumbhalgarh Fort – Ajmer)

On 31/01/2017, just after having breakfast we moved for Kumbhalgarh Fort which is at a distance of 86 km from Udaipur. The road from Udaipur to Kumbhalgarh is beautiful as well as adventurous. Have a look at this Video of Udaipur to Kumbhalgarh Road Route.

We took a tea break a few kms before the Kumbhalgarh Fort at a small resort.

On the Way to Kumbhalgarh Fort

And finally we reached the Kumbhalgarh Fort till 1 pm. Kumbhalgarh Fort is popular as the second most important fort of Rajasthan after Chittorgarh Fort.

With a wall more than 38 km long, the Kumbhalgarh Fort is the second largest wall in the world after the Great Wall of China.

If you are at Udaipur or anywhere nearby, you must not miss Kumbhalgarh Fort. Although the trail is a bit tough for the elderly people but its worth all the hard work.

Kumbhalgarh Fort Entrance

At many places you will find benches where you can take a short hault.

This is how the Kumbhalgarh Fort Wall looks from the top.

If you love taking photographs, you would love to be at this Fort as it has many places where you would be getting some beautiful pics for lifetime.

And here are some of our pictures 🙂

After spending 3 hours at Kumbhalgarh Fort, we moved towards Ajmer where had our stay booked at a Guest House. We reached at Ajmer at about 8:30 pm. This was to be the last day of our trip but we planned to extend our trip by staying at Jaipur for some shopping and tour. Thus, we booked a home stay at Jaipur again and this time it was a 3 bhk flat.

DAY 5 (Ajmer – Jaipur)

On 01/02/2017, we didn’t like the breakfast at the Guest House so we directly moved towards Jaipur and took a breakfast hault at a Restaurant on Ajmer-Jaipur Highway.

And we reached Jaipur at 12:30 pm. Although we have been to Jaipur a couple of times before, but didn’t get to see Nahargarh Fort. So, this time we planned to visit Nahargarh Fort of Jaipur.

Well, Jaipur has got some really beautiful forts and monuments and Nahargarh Fort is not an exception. Watch these Videos of Nahargarh Fort to know how beautiful it is!

If you are a shopoholic, you are surely going to like this market as you get a wide variety of handicraft items and various antiques here.

Finally after visiting the Tripolia Market, we headed towards our Home Stay for our final night stay.

DAY 6 (Jaipur – Agra)

On 02/02/2017, it was going to be the end of our fabulous trip. We started our journey soon after the Breakfast and on the way, we just stopped once at Dausa to have a look at the Stone Carving Work being down on the road side. Here’s video of Stone Carving work in Dausa.

And we finally reached Agra at about 5 pm. It was a super Road trip to Rajasthan. My mother said that it was was the best trip of her life and these words of her made me feel really happy from inside.

Hope you liked to read about our trip. If you have any feedback or queries, don’t hesitate to leave your comments below.

About Anirudh Singh

Anirudh Singh is a passionate Blogger and the man behind Amazing India Blog . He writes about wide range of topics but loves to write Travel Related Articles . He is the most viewed writer on Quora in Indian Passports, Aadhaar Number (UIDAI), PAN Card, Birth Certificates & Voter Identification Laws. Connect with him on Facebook.